^»MJI>: 




aass_L4L5_ 



Book. 







0' / / /^ /7^- '^2'-' '/ // ^ ^ ''' 



%n ijtflcMtijiiam. 



||:0t:n:ti0 ^^xittuowt:. 



" (i5nln tbc Httions of the jnst 
SmtU etottt Hiib blossom in tht i)ust." 



PROCEEDINGS 



SENATE AND ASSEMBLY 



^tatc of ^ciu %ov% 

M 

IN KELATION Tu THE DEATH OF 

HORATIO SEYMOUR, 

HBLU AT THE 

Capitol, April 14, 1886. 



ALBANY: 

WEKD, PARSONS AND COMPANY. 
1886. 

\_, 



I^fflislativr ^^'orffiUnfl.'i'. 



nil. si ilibliiiguishcfl citizen. For ii\cr half a rcnlury lie has 
la-en proniinent in the affairs of our State, having been three 
times a member of the Legislatnre, once Speaker of the Asseni- 
lilv, Ma_\or of the city of I'tica, I'resiilential Klector and twin; 
its Governor. In addition to these lionors conferred upon him 
by the people, he has acceptably served upon several import- 
ant commissions appointed by the K.xecutive, and in iSfiS he 
was the candidate of a great party for the ]>residency of the 
I'nited States, and received therefor the electoral vote of this 
his nati\'e .State. 

Dunn;;; Ills long career, he lias always discharged the duties 
of llic high trusts conimilted to him with conspicuous fidelity, 
most signal ability, and conscientious devotion to the public 
good. As Chief E.\ecuti\-e of the State during a critical period 
in its liistory. he \yas earnest in liis defense of tlie Union and 
loyal to the cause of the Constitution, and at the same lime, 
was bold and fearless in the protection of e\-ery just right of 
the hnnible citizen, and zealous in the maintenance of the sacred 
lionor and credit of the State. 

The (^hristi.iii patriot, the friend oi honest goveinmenf, the 
defender of ci\il lilierly, the conscientious citizen, has passed 
awa)'. 

It is fitting that the close of such a life should receive more 
than ordinary recognition, and I commend to your consideralion 
such proper e.vpression of the ])nb]ic sorrow and such legisla- 
tive action concerning his funeral as in \our judgment may bi; 

deemed aiipropriate. 

DAVID R HILL. 

Oil motion of Mr. Pitts the. followiiio- resolu- 
tions w(;re iinanimoiisly adopted : 

The Go\'ernor having communicated to the Senate by appro- 
priate message the sad intelligence of the death of e.\-Go\'ernor 



li^ffli.slativc ^'voccfrtings. 



HORATIO SEYMOUR, who was one of the most eminent 
anH distinguished citizens of this great Commonwealth, and in 
order that proper respect may be paid to his memory, and that 
we maj' give expression to the esteem and regard in which he 
was held by the people of his native State, 

J\esok'ed, That the Senate attend his funeral. 

Resok't-d, That the President of the Senate appoint a com- 
mittee of five members of this body to confer with a committee 
to be appointed by the Assembl)', and arrange for memorial 
exercises to be held at some day to be fixed by such com- 
mittee in honor of the \-irtues, services and memory of the 
honored dead. 

Rt-soh'fd, That the Senate do now adjourn until Wednesday 
February 17, at 11 o'clock, a. m. 

IN SENATE : 

Ferruary 17, 18S6. 

The President appointed as a committee to 
confer with a like committee of the Assembly 
in reference to memorial services of ex-Gov- 
ernor Seymour, Messrs. Pitts, Pierce, Cogge- 
.siiALL, Traphagen and Bakager. 

IN ASSEMBLY: 

February 15, 1SS6. 

The above message from the Governor, by 
the hands of his private secretary, was received 
and read by the Clerk. 



g;ifgi.slatii'c gi;otfediH(),si. 



()ii motion of Mr. Ei<\vi\, the following reso- 
lutions were unanimously adopted : 

R,:wh;d, That a conimittee, consisting of fifteen members of 
this House, be appointed by the Speaker to attend the funeral 
of ex-Governor HORATIO SEViMOUR ; that such committee 
be requested to prepare resolutions expressive of the senti- 
ments of this House concerninrj flie hfe, eliaracter, and pubhc 
services of this eminent and distinguished citizen, and arrange 
for such memorial exercises as they may deem proper, and that 
they report tlieir action to this House fcjr its consideration at 
its next session. 

Kf.tokvif, Tliat, out of respect to tlie memory of HORATIO 
SEYMOI'R, tliis Hiiuse do now ailjourn until Wednesday 
morning at i i A. M. 

Mr. Speaker appointed as such committee the 
following: Messrs. Ekwix, Sheeh.w, Hall, 
Grkkxe, White, Cutler, Ev.ws, Longley. 
Lyox, Bre\v.ster, Curtis, Chase, Titus, Hacjan, 
Manville. 

in assembly : 

March 4, 1886. 

The joint committee appointed to prepare suit- 
able resolutions expressive of the sentiments of 
the House relative to the death of HORATIO 
SEYMOUT^, reported in favor of the adoption 
of the following resolutions which were unani- 
mousK' ad()i)ted. 



|jr!iwl!<t>i' jProrfftlings. 



/iVWrvv/, That by the death of HORATIO SEYMOUR, the 
State has lost one of its most eminent citizens, wisest counsel- 
ors and truest friends; he was studious in habit, wise in counsel, 
generous in action, pure in thought, gentle in spirit, courteous 
ill manner ; by his learning, eloquence, statesmanship, patriotic 
devotion to duty and to the best interest of the State, Nation 
and his fellow-men, he had won the confidence, admiration and 
love of all; he was respected, honored, cherished ; his life is an 
inspiring example and a priceless legacy; three times honored 
with a seat in the Assembly by his neighbors and friends, and 
by the Assembly chosen its Speaker, twice chosen bj' the peo- 
]ile of the State their Governor, and nominated by a great 
party — the party of his choice — as its candidate for the Presi- 
dency, your committee has deemed it fitting that the occasion 
of his death should be marked by a more formal recognition of 
our appreciation of his worth than the presentation of resolu- 
tions expressive of our sorrow at his death; therefore, 

Resohied, That there be a joint meeting of the Senate and 
Assembly in the Assembly chamber; that the Governor be 
invited to preside, and that the ex-Governors of this State, and 
the State officers be invited to attend, and that Hon, Erastus 
Brooks be invited to deliver a memorial address, and that such 
services be held on the evening of the 7th of April next at 
eight o'clock. 

In pursuance of the foregoing resolutions, the 
joint committee reported that they had tendered 
to Hon. Erastus Brooks an invitation to deliver 
the memorial address, and that he had accepted 
the invitation. 



S^cgisilatirf gvocfctliiigs. 



The clay finally fixed upon for the memorial 
proceedings was Wednesday the 14th day of 
April 1 886, the exercises to be held in the Assem- 
bly chamber. 

On the evening of the day designated, the Leg- 
islature assembled in the Assembly chamber, 
where the following exercises took place, Go\'- 
ernor David B. Hilt., presiding. 

Prayer rv the Rt. Rev. \Vm. Crosweei, Doaxe : 

Almighty God with whom do live the spirits of those who 
dL-|iart hence in tlie Lord ; and witii whom the souls of the 
f.iithfnl alter they are delivered from the hnrden of the flesh 
are in joy and felicity; we give Thee heartv thanks for the 
good examples of all those, Thy servants wdio having finished 
tlieir course in faith do now rest from their labors. And we 
beseech Thee that we, with all those wlio are departed in the 
true faith of Thv PToly Name, may have one perfect consumma- 
tion and b'iss in Thy eternal and everlasting glory; through 
Jesus Christ (jur Lord. Amex. 

The Goverx(tr's .Vddress : 

FelUnv Citi'zi-ns : 

The Sage of Deerfield has departed I Honored by the people 
during his long and eventful life, he passes away amid the tears 
and homage of a sorrowing country. He was a Christian 
gentleman of the old school; a statesman without a st.iin upon 
his record; a partisan who loved his party, but lo\-ed his 
country more; a conscientious citizen, who was noble and pure 

10 



^rgislativr i'vocccilinsis. 



in all tlie relations of private life. Elequent worrls of eulogy 
cannot arid to his greatness. Tongue and pen are inadequate 
to e.\])ress our appreciation of his virtues and our e.\alted 
respect for his honored memory. Distinguished for half a centuiy 
as the foremost citizen of New York, his fame was as wide as 
the country itself. There is not a hamlet in the land so obscure 
that has not heard of the name and fame of Horatio Seymour. 
Although never serx'ing in the national councils or holding anv 
federal position wliate\er, his history is everywhere as familiar 
as household words. The triumphs which he won were in State 
affairs, yet, he would ha\-e achieved greatness anywhere; he 
would have graced a seat in congress ; he would have adorned 
the United States senate ; he would lia\-e honored the presi- 
dency itself. 

I need not recite to you, his friends and neighbors, the 
details of his public life. You i'Cnow them better than I do. 
He was honored by the people more than usually falls to the 
lot of men, yet fortune did not always smile upon him. He was 
thrice defeated for the governorship and once for the presi- 
dencv. But defeat did not dismay or sour him ; he was the 
same affable, patriotic, cultivated gentleman. He lo^'ally 
shared in the defeats of his party, and accepted the results 
without a nuirnuir. It is said that Henry Clay was the idol of 
the old Whig party, but, surely, no statesman ever had the 
esteem and love of his party, or possessed their confidence to a 
greater extent or degree than did Horatio Seymour that of the 
Democratic party. His name was always a tower of strength. 
It thrilled every Democratic heart, and had the respect of every 
honorable opponent. That he did not always succeed was 
never a fault of his own — it was the fortune of politics, which 
is always uncertain, and the accident of the times in which he 
lived. 

There was no position so high which he could not honoraliK- 
and creditablv fill — there was none so humble that he deemed 



Xrdislativr J'rorcfding.s. 



it beneath his dignity to accept. Whether as gov-erndr of the 
State or as pathmaster of his town, he exhibited the same 
conscientious regard for the public weal tliat characterized his 
whole life. Relieved of the cares of public station he did not 
withdraw himself from the people, or attempt to evade the 
responsibilities of tlie citizen. lie took great interest in the 
afl'airs of the National Dairyman's assf)ciation. and served as its 
president. The agricultural interests of the State were always 
dear to him, and probably no public man ever delivered so 
man\- agricultural addresses to the farmers of the country as 
he. Possessing a kind heart and a disposition which sympa- 
thized with the poor, the afflicted and the unfortunate, he 
freipiently \isited the si<-k. the oppressed, and those in prison. 
How well do we remember that remarkable address made by 
him several years ago to the jirisoners at Auburn prison. How 
eloquently he urged them to become better men; how affection- 
ately he sjiiike of their families and friends who still had faith 
in them; how vividl\- he depicted their ill-spent li\es, and the 
unfortunate results of e\il-doing: how keenlv he showed his 
fatherly interest in their welfare; liow tenderU' he poured forth 
words of encouragement and hope, until old men wept and 
young men cheered for I'oy. His visit was like a sweet oasis in 
the desert of their existence; a beacon light in the ocean of 
their dark despaii. What a contrast was presented! A states- 
man talking lo felons within prison walls. 

In public or private station, in success or defeat, in youth or 
in old age, he was always the earnest and true friend of the 
unfortunate. In his desire to do good to his fellow nu/n he 
became a member of the jirison association of the L'nited 
States, and ser\ed as its president. 

It was, as chief executive of this State, during the critical 
period of our civil war, that his great abilities and his go(jd 
statesmanship were displayed. In the political canvass of 1862 
he urged "a more \-igorous prosecution of the war." This was 

ts 



g^ffliieilativc I'lotrrdtnn.s. 



the key-note of his iiiajj^iiiticent campaign, and gave him tlie 
victory. 

His first message to tlie legislature, in 1863, annouiiced his 
[loHcy as follows : " At this moment the fortunes of our country 
are influenced b\' the results of battles. Our armies in the 
field must be supported ; all constitutional demands of the 
general government must be responded to. * * * * Under 
no circumstances can the division of the Union be conceded. 
We will put forth every exertion of power; we will use every 
policy of conciliation; we will hold out every inducement to 
the people of the south to return to their allegiance, ccmsistent 
with honor; we will guarantee them every right, every con- 
siderati(jn demanded by the constitution, and by that fraternal 
regard which must prevail in a common country; but we can 
never voluntarily consent to the breaking up of the union of 
these States, or the destruction of the constitution." 

Such was his respect for the constitution that he believed 
that the highest evidence (jf loyalty consisted in implicit obedi- 
ence to its provisions. The general government never made a 
deuumd upon him for troops to which he did not promptlv 
respond. He firmly believed in the personal liberty of the 
individual citizen. He boldly advocated the maintenance of 
the public faith and credit of the State, and insisted that the 
interest on the State debt should be paid in the currenc)' of the 
world, especially when that debt was held by persons not 
residing in the United States. The legislature had passed a 
resolution declaring a different policy and. (jn April 23, 1S64, he 
sent a special message to that body, protesting in vigorous 
language against such a suicidal proceeding. Among other 
things he said : " Aside from the consideration of interest or 
policy, our duty, in my judgment, is plain. It is to pay the 
debts of the State; to pay them in precisely the mode in which 
they were promised to be paid ; to keep the honor of the State 
unsullied, and to this plain duty we should be true, cost what it 

13 



legislative yrorcr(Ung.si. 



may." Tills actinii on liis part was most Si--\-erely ciilicised at 
tlir time. To-tlay it stands fortli as tlu- biii;hest jewel in bis 
diadem. 

He believed in bonest sjjoverninent. Having- no sympathy 
with coriii|itiiin ol any kind, in 1871 be consented t" the use of 
his name as a candidate for nuMnber of assend)lv in om- of the 
ilislricts in Xew ^'oik city, in order to em|>li.isize bis party's 
repndiation of the men ulio were robbing tliat city. In all the 
subsequent efforts for ret'orni he was tlie trusterl counselor of 
those engaged in their prosecution. 

I need not speak to \'on further <jI Go\-ernor Seymour's 
(pialities as a man. Yon knew him in health and in sickness, in 
sornjw and in jo\-, in his early youth and in his ripe old age, and 
in all his business associations. Von knew that his word was 
as sacred as his bond. 

I can appropriatelv say of him as Rdward Ev-erett said of 
D.uiiel Webster. "Do yon ask me if he had faults.' 1 
answer, he was a man. * * * pj,. i,;,,] some of 
the faults of .1 lofty spirit, a genial temperann-nt, an open 
hand and a warm heart; he had none of the faults of a gro. 
\-elling, mean and malignant n.dure; he had especiailv the 
'hist intirndtv of noble niiiifls,' and hafl. no doubt, raisi-d an 
aspiring eye to the highest object of political andiition. Rut 
lie did it in the honest pride of a capacity eipial to the st.i- 
tion. .ind with a consci<nisness that he should reflect back 
the honor which it conferred. He might s.iy, with Burke, 
th.it • he had no arts but honest aits;' and if he sought the 
higliest honors of the State, he did it 1)\- .111 unsurpassed talent, 
l.diorious service and patriotic de\-otion to the public good." 

His nianl)' presence, his eloipienf fimguc, his clarion \'oice, 
will be beard and seen no more. ^'ou. his neighbors, have lost 
a kind and generous friend; your county its most famous 
citizen ; the State its lax'urite son ; the n.ition one of its purest 



^ffli.slativc I'vorfftUuns. 



statesmen. The free canals of the State have lost their ablest 
and most influential advocate. 

Friends of personal liberty, your boldest defender is gone. 
The |irinciples which he inculcated will live, but their most 
brilliant e.xponent has fallen asleep, wearied and worn out with 
labor in your service. 

Friends of constitutional government, your greatest oratoi 
has ceased t<j speak. The lierv eye that kindled your enthusi- 
asm, the graceful gestuie that aroused yr)ur admiration, the 
voice that swayed your emotions, the torrent of eloquent 
words that con\'inced \-our reason, are gone from your midst 
forever. 

He lies buried in the soil of the State he loved so well, and 
which he so highly honored. New York may well be proud of 
■such a son. 

1 am grateful that I am permitted to be present upon this sad 
occasion to pay this brief tribute of respect to the " statesman, 
the patriot, the fellow citizen, the neighbor, the friend." 

Letters Read. 

Fki.im President Cleveland : 

Executive Man.sion, ) 

Wa.shington, D. C, .■//;-/■/ 6, iSS6. ^ 

Hon. Edmund L. Pitts, Cluunnaii . 

Dear Sir — I have received an invitation on behalf of the 
Senate and Assembly of the State of New York to attend the 
exercises in honcjr of the memory of the late Horatio Sevmour 
on the evening of the 14th inst. I regret exceedingly that 
official labors will prevent my acceptance of the invitation to be 
present on this interesting occasion. The people of the State 
of New York may well especially mourn the loss of such a 
citizen, whose influence and example were a constant benedic- 
ts 



legislative J'rorffrtingrj. 



(ion. Every successor of his in the chief miisjistracy of tlie 
State will tenderl)' rcvi\'e liis ineinoty while lie acl<nowlcdges 
tliat he only acconiplislierl (lie hrst lesults hy ;ulheriii,<; In their 
distiiiguishcfi predecessor's niethods in oflicial life and adopting 
his patriotic and thoughtful regard for everv puhlic interest. 

Yours \'erv trulv, 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

From E.\-r;nVKRXoR S.^mukl J. Tii.dkn* : 

^■|l^'KKRs. N. v., April 13. 

Hon. Edmund L. Pit is., Chainiian Sciuih- C<>iiniu'lt,r, and Hon. 
Geokgk Z. Erwin, of Asscmb/y Comiitillci-. Albany. X. W: 

1 nuich regret that 1 cannot he present at the e.\crcises 
in honor of the memory of the Lite lIoR.vrio SliV.Mot K, 
to he held at the Assenihly Chamhei on the evening of 
A|)ril 14. I j<jin, nevertheless, in the hi.image which the 
ollicial hodies of the State, with the concurrence of the 
whole people, pay to tb.it illustrious citizen and statesman. 

SA.Ml'EL J. TILDEN. 

Fru.m Ex-CiiVKR.XDk Li:i ITS Rohinson : 

El.MlK.\, March 2y, 1SS6. 

Gknti.f.men — I have received your kind in\-ilatiori to he 
present at the joint meeting of the Senate and .Xssemlily 
on the 14th of .\pril ne.\t. to he addressed h\- the Hijn. 
Er.istus Rrooks, in honor of the memory of the late HoR.\rii) 
SeV.MdUR. 1 regret lliat circumstances, which 1 need not 
state, will prevent my being present on that very interest- 
ing occasion. 

Yours very respectfully. 

L. ROBINSON, 



legislative i'vorrrrtinns. 



From Ex-Govek.\uu Hamilton Fish: 

251 East Skventeenth Strekt, ) 
New Y'ork., March 26, 1886. ( 

Gentlemen — I have llie Iiuikjt to acknowledge your letter 
of 24th inst., convej'ing an in\-itation to be present at the 
exercises on the 14th April next, m honor of the memory 
of the late Horatio Seymour. My sincere respect and 
esteem of Gov. Seymour, with whom a personal acquaint- 
ance and friendship from eaily manhood had existed, prompt 
a cordial acceptance of the invitation to the services ordered 
by the Legislature in honor of the memory of one who 
had rendered such important services, and had shed such 
lustre upon the State. 

With great respect, j'our <jhedient ser\ant. 

HAMILTON FISH. 



From E.x-Governor John T. Hoffman: 

New York, March 26, 1S86. 

Dear Sir — I hope and expect to be able to attend the 
exercises in honor of the memory of the late Horatio Sey- 
,MOUR on the 14th inst. 

Very respectfully, 

JOHN T. HOFFMAN. 



From Ex-Governor Myron H. Ci.ark: 

Canandaicua. April 6, 18S6 

Gentlemen — I have the honor of acknowledging the 
receipt of your invitation to attend the meeting in honoi 
of the memorv of the late HoRATio SEYMOUR, to be held 



^cgisilativc i'vorrnUng':.. 



;it tlie Asscinblv Cli.itiibcr on tlic evening of the I4tli iiist. 
In reply, I regret tn be oblige'l to say tlint it will not be 
practicable for ine to be in Albany at that time. 
VcPi' respertfullv vonrs, 

MYRON II. CLARK. 



From Ex-G(.)Vf.rn()r Aldn/o B. CdRNEi.i.: 

Nr,\v York, .//;-// 12. iSSfi. 

Gentlemen — Youi' conrteons imitation on behalf of the 
Legislatnre to attend the memorial >er\ices in honor of Gov- 
ernoi Seymour is gratefully apjireciated, and if is a cause 
of sincere regret that circumstances beyond my c<^ntroI will 
prevent me from being ])resent. Few men have been enabled 
to render the Stale more \'aluable services than (Joxernor 
Seymour, and the Legislature does well in honoring his 

memory. 

It was his foitune to be called to direct the St.ite gov- 
ernment at tunes of great jiublic ]ieril, and lie was often 
the object of severe ])artisan criticism, but his bitterest ene- 
mies ne\'er questioned his personal inteijrity nor his patri- 
otic devotion to the welfare of the Stale. 

Fortunalelv, he was permitted to outlive partisan hatred, 
and to realize, in some measure, the Cordial appreciation of 
his public services bv liberal-minded citizens. He was called 
to his rest full of vears and full of honors, and a faithlul 
review of his political and oliicial career cannot fail to be 
both instructive and useful to those who have become famil- 
iar with public affairs in recent \ears. 

Yours most respectfully. 

AL(;NZ() H. C'ORXELL. 



18 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



^ilip, ifj.iraitfq tiiih ^pcruitcs 



Horatio Seymour, 

HY 

ERA5TUS BROOKS. 



"Their lives are best who study most to become as good as possible, and theirs the most en- 
joyable who feel that they are constantly progressing in virtue. ... I have ever aimed at thn 
improvement of those who have associated with me." — Socrates, fit-ar the close of kin life. 



JItc 3^ddvcs$, 



Mr. President, Senators, Members of Assembly, 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

The first thought as we meet this evening to 
commemorate the Hfe and services of Horatio 
Seymour, is the thanks due from me to the Senate 
and Assembly in the choice named in their joint 
resoUition. Whether due to old and long service 
in the Legislature and State, to my knowledge of 
the man in whose behalf I am to speak, or to any 
cause whatever, I tender my sincere thanks to your 
joint committee for their suggestion of my name, 
and to the members of the two Houses for the 
approval of their choice. 

The words I have written are historical and per- 
sonal — of the State largely, and of the man as 
part of the State — and the necessary abridgment 
of what in justice is due to this place, and this 
occasion, has been the real task in my labor of 
love. 

Horatio Seymour was born at Pompey Hill, 
Onondaga county, May 31, iSio; lived at Deer- 
field from 1S67 to the time of his death; was at 

21 



©he ^lUlrc.ss. 



tlie Oxford Academy at the a;^i' of ten )-ears ; at 
Holjart Collcj^re, Geneva, lor four \ears ; then at 
the MiHtarv Academy in Mlddletown, Conn., with 
the (jovernor of Connecticut, of the same- name; 
and blood ; a stutlent at law at Utica under the 
rare teachiiiL;' of Greene C. lironson and Samuel 
Beardsley. This young man, upon heiny admitteel 
to practice at the bar, at once ])ecani(; distin- 
guished for aijility, delicacy, and re-tmement. It 
was these (ju.dities that won the heart of Mary 
Bleecker, of All)an\-, a name associated with the- 
most acco?nplished families of the State. 

'I'he tliath of Mrs. Se\-mour, twent)' da\-s after 
the death of her husband, is one of those e\ents 
of life anil eleath which in the order of an all-wise 
Providence it would be unbecoming in us to (jues- 
tion. \Vi- pause just here to sa\', that for half a 
century and more, united in their li\es, in the time 
of death they were not long separated. The spirit 
of the manly man had not long to wait the coming 
of th(; loving wife. They were buried from the 
same church, placed in the same grave, followed 
by the same mourners, and witli old age, infirmity, 
the tired mind, the wear\- body, the sickness imto 
death, who of us, feeling tlu: failing and fainting 
seen in the last shadows of life wouUl care to live 
on ? rh(;se two at least were ready for the sum- 



©he ^rttltrsis. 



nions. With them to die on earth was to reach 
immortahty in Heaven. Death, too, was welcome 
for the double reason that the spirit was free and 
there was no more bodily jiain. They had each 
long enjoyed what we all desire and most need in 
our homes — domestic repose within, and without 
what belongs to cultivation, growth, beauty, and 
contentment. 

And so witli .111 uiif.ilteiiiifT tru'^t they went 
To that mysterious reahn where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death. * * * 
Lil<e one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him and lies duun to pleasant dreams. 

Utica and Deerfield were for both husband and 
wife the old-school home, the old-school life, and 
the old-school manners ; and these were in practice 
social grace, sincere e.\pressions of opinion, and a 
just toleration of differences in faith or party. 

Governor Sev.molik's ancestors were distin- 
guished for four generations either in the primi- 
tive history of the country or in the war of the 
Revolution. His grandfather, Moses .Seymour, 
took a prominent part in the war for independ- 
ence, and especially at the surrender of Burgoyne. 
His uncle, of the same name, was for twelve years 
a Senator in Congress from the State of Ver- 
mont ; and of the sons of Major .Seymour, two 

23 



iThr address. 



were Higli Sheriffs, one .1 Imancier and Ijank 
president, and another a State Representative and 
Senator, and a Canal Commissioner in New York. 
A cousin represented the State of Connecticut in 
Congress, and on the liench of the Supreme Court. 
Another cousin was Governor of the State and 
United States Minister to Russia. 

Among liis maternal ancestry was the niect; of 
Colonel LetUartl, in command when .\rnold, in 
1781, directing the Tories and Hritish, ilestroyed 
the town of Croton \)y fire. Ledyard was killed 
after surrendering his sword in person to the Tory 
miscreant, Major Broomfield, from the colony of 
New Jerse}'. 

Governor Si;vmiii k was also one of the Cincin- 
nati, and gained this distinction as a descendant 
of Colonel h'orman. Henry Seymour was also a 
colleague of L)e Witt Clinton, Canal Commis- 
sioner, Member of the Council of Apjiointment, 
Representative, Senator, and President of the 
I'armers' Loan and Trust Company, all honorable 
positions and all most honorably filled. The set- 
tlers of Onondaga in that day were ready to mort- 
iratre their farms to endow the academy where 
.Skvmuur received his first education. Time will 
not permit the record of his student life at Oxford, 
Hobart Colleyfe, nor elsewhere. The distint£uished 



r 



@he gkddreiSjsi. 



sculptor, Palmer, of Albany ; Elliot, the artist ; 
and the Sedgewicks, Litchfields, Marshes, Masons 
and Jeromes were at the same academy. 

In the Military School in Connecticut Captain 
Partridge was his teacher, and the disciplinarian 
of himself and of his cousin, the Governor of 
Connecticut. 

Governor Sevmour's Death. 

I pass rapidly from ancestry, l)irth, and student 
life to the one and last great event which follows 
in the order of nature — the summons and pres- 
ence of death. On the evening of February 12, 
1886, as the clock struck ten, Horatio Seymour 
expired at the residence of his sister, Mrs. Roscoe 
Conkling, in the city of Utica. The last stroke 
of the clock told the moment when the pulse, 
which had long been feeble, ceased to beat. 

In his last illness he enjoyed what we all covet 
in the approaching hours of dissolution, freedom 
from bodily pain, and our friend entered into rest 
as gently as the setting sun passes from human 
observation. For six hours and more he had been 
failing in strength, and as the end came, or very 
near it, he was in the presence, and on earth for 
the last time, of his lontr invalid and sorrowing- 
wife. The time had come when the period allotted 



the 3^d(Uf,s.«(. 



Id human existence had heen fulfilled. What is 
called cerebral eftusion — the usual process or 
cause of decay and death in old age — gave signs 
of the rapid change ; luit let nie sa\' just here, 
that old as Govern(_)r SI•;^•M(ll k was, tleath was 
hastened by one of the commcju infirmities of (jur 
restless American character. The first notable 
simimons came from a siuistroke in the summer 
of 1S70, when he was in service as the path-mas- 
ter of his own town. 

If he had ever coveted public; office in town, 
count\'. State or nation, it was this humble place 
where; there was to him no compctnsation other 
than the advantage of goocl roads for all who tra\'- 
elled upon them. Ami those of you who live in 
the countrN- know what good roads mean alike for 
man and lieast. The path-master at Deerfield 
secured through his office one of the economies 
and comforts of life. The oaths registered on 
earth, I will not say in Heaven, t)ver bad roads, it 
not as manv as the stars in numlier, must, I fancx', 
be at least as many as the ol)structi<)ns vipon the 
common highwax'. dovernor Si;x'M(iri<, as a pains- 
taking, patient roadmaster, received not cursing 
but blessing for his faithful work at home. 

It is, as we know, some of the little things of 
domestic life, belonging to honu: and neighbor- 



®Ue gkddiffsis;. 



liood, personal life and citizenship, that often 
reveal to ns what real manhood is and means. In 
all these relations Hhkaik) Seymour was con- 
spicuous as neighlior, citizen, friend and man. 1 
recall two of many reminiscences at his funeral : 
On either side of the casket were formed sixt)' 
orphan o-irls, with four .Sisters of Charity and the 
same number of bo)'s from .St. \'incent's Protec- 
torate. The domestics of his farm and home col- 
lecting around his bier to manifest their love for 
the man, placed upon his cotiin sprigs of pine antl 
hemlock, gathered from the trees which had stood 
as sentinels from manhood to old age. These 
were all that had a green life in the cold gray 
winter of 1886, and many of these sentinels of 
nature, planted b)- his own hamls, survive the life 
of him who gave them plant and watched their 
growth and beauty. The)' still live, but not more 
than the memory of the unselfish man whose high 
estate and noble example will remain in the minds 
and hearts of the thoughtful people of the com- 
monwealth. 

One fact more of the remote causes of Governor 
Seymour's death. The eml came, it is true, of old 
age — if to be born May 31, 18 10, and to be dead 
February 12th, 1886, really means old age. But 
old age, as we call it, is not to be counted alone 

27 



®hf %Mxt^s. 



by the years we live, Imt hy the work we perform, 
(lovernor Skymoir liastened his own end by the 
sunstroke I have named, though it came nearly 
ten years before his death. It gave him fre- 
quent })ain in the heart, vertigo in the head, and 
at times an unsteady motion upon his feet. In 
the canvass for (lOvernor Tiklen he had worked 
witli great (hUgence. In i8So he suffered from 
cono-estion of the huii'S antl acute inllammation, 
and escaped ih-atli onl\- after the most careful 
nursing and the wisest medical attendance. Plac- 
ing very much less \'alue upon his own life than 
was placed upon it by his friends, he was per- 
suaded to take part in the canvass for General 
Hancock, and spoke for him at Utica, Canajoharie, 
and finallv, after a most urgent appeal, on one of 
the cold, stormy and trying November days, at 
W'atertown. He was warned not to t'o b\- his 
l)hvsician, but he said: "I must go; for I cannot 
abandon in_\' friends in their hoiu' of need, even if 
I die in consecpience." 

This, eentlemen, ma\' seem to you the evidence 
of strong partisanship, and if \'Ou will (|ualif\' this 
conclusion by thct fact that it was also tht; evidence 
of stronsj' friendship, and strong" dex'otion to the 
cause which he had adhered to all his life, then 
the conclusion is a just one. lUit let me add, that, 



^Txt gulilvrss. 



as the Governor of the State, as the presiding of- 
ficer of the Assembly, as one of its members for 
three years, as the Mayor of Utica, or in any of- 
ficial position or private trust, Governor Seymour 
never 

"To party gave up 
What was meant for mankind." 

Home and Religious Life. 

Governor Seymour added to these qualities of 
public service a real love of home and family life. 
He found pleasure in the acquisition of knowledge 
as revealed to him in books and in the study of 
the greater volume of nature. Three hundred 
acres of land, part of it on the banks of the Mo- 
liawk, was his home. He possessed also a keen 
sense of the pleasures of the chase. He was not 
only at home in the Adirondacks, the woods of 
Northern New York, on the prairies of the West, 
in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Upper 
Mississippi, but others shared with him in these 
enjoyments. His house was built more for com- 
fort and space than for show or ornament. His 
tastes were simple and for mental improvement 
rather than for indulgence in the art decorations 
so common in our citvlife. As the chief of a ereat 
part)' he received as many blows as any man who 



oThr '^drtrc.ss. 



(-vcr held ])ul)lic utticc'. lUit nowhere in attack or 
defence can vou find cahimny, coarseness of ex- 
pression, or bitterness of manner toward those 
with wht)ni he differed. I think I may say in tliis 
distinguished presence, and with an assured con- 
currence of t)j)inion from tliose wliose \'Otes origi- 
nated anil directed this commemoration of his life, 
character, services and tlrath, that Hoka tk i .Si \ - 
.Mill K, in all that words in their best sense mean, 
was a i)atriot, a statesman, anil a true Christian 
o-entlcman. And hx jjatriotism I mean not only 
one who loves and faithfully serves his country, 
hut tile patriotism which Lord HolinLj-broke most 
a|)tl\' definetl as " foumleil in i4reat principles and 
supi)orted by great virtues." 

In his employment of pulilic affairs, changing 
but a single word, the words of the poet apply to 
him : 

•■ Sl.ilrMu.iii, VL'l liieiul Ici Irutli : ol soul .sincere, 
]n action hiitliliii and in honor clear; 
Who hi like no promise, served no private end ; 
Wlio soiijrht no title and who lost no friend." 

In the third ([ualitvof character which I have 
assigned to him, if I may speak of the faith in 
which he believed, and which was illustrated at 
home and for many )'ears in very many Diocesan 
Conventions in the .State and in the nation, it 



®he '§,AAtt$s. 



rested upon true grace and real knowledge. I'or 
the State and for the people at large it meant not 
only good will among men, but in his own per- 
sonal life "whatsoever was true, honest, just, pure, 
lovely, and of good report." 

His attachments to his own Christian faith came 
in the double title of inheritance and his own free 
will. The office long held by his father as War- 
den of Trinit\' Church, in Utica, was also held by 
himself up to near the time of his death. 

In this faith his Christian life was founded upon 
that large charity which is neither pretentious nor 
censorious, exclusive nor dogmatic. His private 
life I see illustrated in that grand character whose 
teaching rested not so much upon gifts, nor proph- 
ecies, nor mysteries, as upon that abiding faith 
and hope which declared, "Though I speak with 
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not 
charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tink- 
ling cymbal." In this thought he followed, ne.xt 
to Christ, the master-spirit of the New Testament. 

He may not have had all the boldness of this 
master-spirit, nor his long suffering, nor his physi- 
cal courage, nor intense force ; but he united great 
gentleness with great power and courage in main- 
taining his convictions. In both faith and practice 
he was a true man, and as near as our many human 

31 



infirmities will permit, and from whicli he was not 
exempt, we see in him 

"Tlie tjreat t-xaniplc iil ;i hl.iinclrss life." 

In the Church as a layman, as well as in the 
State as a leader and counsellor, he took no step 
backward. A reverend friend in all these years 
of his life says of him : 

" In the councils o( the Church he was always 
at home ; more at home, 1 belie\-e, than in any 
political asseml)lies ; and no la_\'man ever appearetl 
to Greater advantage in our General Conventions. 
thouiTh he was too modest to speak as often as Ave 
wanted him, ami sometimcis, as I know, sitting b)- 
his side in the same delegation, it was \-er)- diffi- 
cult to get him up on hi", feet. P>ut when he did 
speak, every eye was fastened on him, every ear 
was intent not to lose a single word, and every 
heart throbbed with emotions of gratitude for the 
learnim'' and wisdom which flowed from his lips, 
j-lis manners were those of a shepherd and pastor, 
and he would have made a splendid \'icar of 
Wakefield." 

Evidence of Puiu.k; Respect. 
The Governor of the State in suggesting suit- 
able action by the Legislature, which in this joint 



®ht ^tlrttcSi,Si. 



meeting is promptly responded to, reminded the 
people of Governor Seymour's " conspicuous fidel- 
ity, signal ability, and conscientious devotion to 
the public good." And your own just and gener- 
ous words were the unanimous resolve : 

"That in the death of Horatio Seymour the 
State has lost one of its most eminent citizens, 
wisest counsellors and truest friends. He was 
studious in habit, wise in council, generous in 
action, pure in thought, gentle in spirit, courteous 
in manner. Byhis learning, eloquence, statesman- 
ship, patriotic devotion to duty, and to the best 
interests of the State, nation and his fellow men, 
he had won the confidence, admiration and love 
of all. He was respected, honored and cherished. 
His life is an inspiring example and a priceless 
legacy." 

In this large assembly of the officers of the State, 
judicial, and by election and selection ; of Sena- 
tors and Assemblymen, representing at large the 
people of the State, the Commonwealth responds 
to this general voice of its chosen fellow-citizens. 

The President of the United -States, Governors 
of States in their official stations, legislators in 
their places of public trust, friends without num- 
ber, .Sisters of Charity, orphans left to the care of 

33 



®he gnUltcssi. 



the State or fri(jndly hands, prisoners in their pris- 
on-house, all from the church to the [ilatform, in 
historical meetings and private assemblies, have 
conciirretl in your words of j)ublic [jraise. And 
whv ? if 1 may ask the question. Simply l)ecause 
always, to the honor of human nature, 

" (iiilv tlie ailidiis (_il the just 
Sr)icll sweet ;mfl bhjssom in tlic dust." 

.'\nel ufuv in public affairs let me ask, was HoK.\ri(i 
.Sevmui'k worthy of all these honors? This is a 
(piestion 1 shall try to answt'r ; but first let me sa)' 
that no devotee of saints or gods can have a 
greater dislike than I have to what is called man- 
worship. We worship onl)' God. We honor emi- 
nence of position where the possessor is worthy 
of the i)lace he fills. We respect dignity, excel- 
lence, moral worth, and purity of purpose and 
life. This is not worship, and within these limits 
is the e.xtent of our regard for the man whose vir- 
tues the State he served loved, and now commem- 
orates. To be equal to any .station which he 
tilled, or to which his friends aspired for him, was 
his purpose : but with him always the true " post 
of honor was the private station." more than the 
love of any ])ublic service. 

I recall places almost without number which he 

34 



ii\it ^drtvcss. 



declined to fill : once as a foreicrn ambassador 
under President Pierce; once as United States 
Commissioner to settle the troubles with Kansas ; 
conspicuously, and more than once, as the candi- 
date for President of the United States, as Gov- 
ernor of the State, and as Senator in Congress. 
Once he accepted the nomination for the first of 
these offices, and led the forlorn hope in his own 
defeat, and naturally enough at the time, with 
General Grant as his opponent. For nt-arly a 
week the National Convention of iS68, and 1 
speak as one of its members, had balloted in vain. 
and only the name of Sevmuuk, of New York, 
could in the end bring- order and harmony out of 
prolonged discord and confusion. I have shared 
in many conventions and nominations, but never 
before in one which in its final work was so en- 
thusiastic. It was destiny that the victorious 
soldier of the war for the nation should win the 
field against the accomplished civilian of a single 
State, and this would have been true had Gov- 
ernor .Sevmouk's preferred candidate, Salmon P. 
Chase, received the nomination, which he was 
quite ready to accept. Governor Sevmouk in pro 
nouncing in the face of all the responses of party 
and people, his own reluctant consent, said at the 
time to his friends in private that he had made 

35 



®he addrrSiS. 



tliL- greatest mistake of liis life. And this, except 
in serving' others, was tlie end of Governor Sev- 
mouk's acceptance of any political office. 

In this Commonwealth he was for forty years 
the conspicuous member of his own party, and in 
statesmanship the equal ol any of his predecessors 
in ot+ice. In a lar^e sense he was, in its new life, 
the founder of his party in the State ; and I speak 
now as one who as lony as the old ^Vhig■ party 
lived, or gave signs of life, followed its standard, 
and left it only when personal divisions and State 
separations and sectional ambitions and jealousies 
seciu'ed its doom. 

Among Governor .SKv>t(>rR's predecessors there 
may have been l)older, craftier, and in extensive 
literature and scholarship more conspicuous men. 

The precise jeffersonian example to which 1 
have alluded in his life is embodied, first, in the 
faitli that in all that really means the country's 
welfare "we are all Democrats and we are all Re- 
publicans." .Secondly, Tliat in leading principles 
— political or religious — and I think I mav say 
in this day of marvellous independence of faith — 
in all the forms of what is called Christian, ag 
nostic, theistic, deistic, or positivist faith — that 
" error of opinion ceases to be dangerous when 
reason is left to combat it." It may take time for 



3B 



the long battle to be fought out, but in the end 
the right will prevail. 

Character, Couracie and Independenxe. 

When Governor of the State he vetoed a bill 
as extreme as the first Prohibitory Law of Maine ; 
and his reasons were that the act directed unreas- 
onable searches of the dwellings of citizens, de- 
prived persons of their property, forfeited it when 
seized, imposed inquisitorial examinations, and 
was, in brief, an unjust and odious enactment. 
Through education, morality and religion he be- 
lieved that temperance must be secured. This 
veto message prevented his re-election, and in the 
divided parties of the time Myron H. Clarke, by 
a plurality of three hundred and nine votes, was 
made Governor. The previous defeat came from 
his warm Whio; friend, Governor Hunt, one of the 
truest men ever in the State service, and this time 
it was effected by a union of the Whig party with 
the anti-rent party, and two hundred and sixty 
votes elected the Whig candidate. 

Governor .Sevmour had a dread of office-seekine 
at any age, and especially of office-holding in old 
age. He believed, however, in the wisdom of a 
busy and useful life to the end of one's full time 
on earth ; and in this he practised all he preached. 

37 



iThr 3VtUlrc.s.«. 



Ill his last interview with Ciovernor .Marcy, the 
hitter saitl to him as to a personal friend : " I trust 
that I nia\- so pass the rest of my days as not to 
show an indifference to the interests of the country 
and to the party that lias made me twice a cabinet 
minister, a United States Senator, ("lovernor and 
|ui1l;c, or to my friends. After so much let me 
not now seem to turn m\- back upon the world." 

This problem, so hard to soke for so man_\- in 
old age, Providence; soon solved for our friend's 
friend. Lxin^^ upon his sofa, with a book in his 
hand, his heart ceased to beat. In ndatin^- the 
end of a very lony public life, dovernor .Si;v\nirK 
said : " When I see tottering old men upon the 
brink of the grave engaged in an unseemh' 
scramble for office, I am always reminded of Hol- 
l)ein's picture of the ' Dance of Death.' It shall 
never l)e said of me that I took part in such a 
cotillon. I shall ne\H'r Ik; a figure in such a pic- 
ture." 

It was Martin \^an Buren, wlien at the head of 
the I'nited .States State Department, who sug- 
gested to Governor Marcy the name of .Skv.mour 
for his Militar\- Secretary, and at once this service 
ripened into life-long friendship. In the last in- 
terview of Marcy with Skv.muuk, the retired states- 



ehc ^tldrcsis. 



man suggested to his friend continued work in the 
development of the topography of the State and 
in his efforts for national reconciliation, for an un- 
broken union of the States, resting both upon con- 
stitutional liberty and the limitations of federal 
power defined in the intent, purpose, and spirit of 
the Constitution itself. The two subjects of State 
Topography and State History he blended into 
one, and these written papers make him, without 
exaggeration, a public benefactor. The physical 
peculiarities of this State have, and have had for 
many years, a large influence over its fortunes. 
In his own words they " are enduring causes of its 
greatness and power." 

These teachings upon State development relate 
both to local and general history, as on the Hud- 
son River, Lake George and Lake Champlain, ex- 
tendinof from the St. Lawrence to the bav of New 
York, intersecting at right angles about mid-way 
by the valley of the Mohawk, and constituting the 
great base lines of the State. These lines are 
alike interesting to the State and nation, both in 
periods of war and times of peace. Disciplined 
and savage armies have passed over them. Here 
in a narrow and rugged valley are the divisions 
which separate New York and New England from 

39 



the rest of the nation, lipon ahnost every foot 
of this land and water are written the struggles 
for American independence. They kept Ihir- 
goyne and his army, and the liritish Clinton and 
liis arnn", " cribbed, cabined ami conhned," so that 
there could be no union of the two opposing 
forces, unless it came, as attempted, through the 
treachery of Arnold, in jjaid-for treason with the 
enemy. Northern New York more than Kentucky 
has been the " dark and blood)- ground of the 
nation." French and English and savages were 
long upon this line. The massacre and burning 
of Schenectady, and the encounters at Cherry 
\'alley, the Mohawk, Oriskany, Ticonderoga, 
Sackett's Harbor, Kingston, Stony Point, I'Von- 
tignac, Wolfe and Montcalm, all make a part of 
this history ; and you may trace its close connec- 
tion for more than two centuries of time in war 
and peace. 

Governor Seymour in his love of history fol- 
lows in charming words the canoe of the early 
hunters from the Hudson to the Mohawk, and 
moving on from the Mohawk, by a portage around 
the falls of Niagara, from the tributaries of Onta- 
rio to Green Piay, the I'o.x, and Wisconsin on to 
the Mississipi)i, and up the Missouri to the gorges 

40 



site gnUlrrsi,s. 



of the Rocky Mountains. All this space of four 
thousand miles is now almost a common water- 
way for commerce, and only a single mile sepa- 
rates the upper waters of the Missouri from the 
Columbia, now reached by rail in the days of a 
single week. 

In another direction from the Mohawk is the 
highway to the St. Lawrence in one direction, and 
to the far, far West and the Gulf of Mexico in 
another. 

St.\te .-v.nd Inter-St.jlTe Commerce. 

State and inter-State commerce and the Erie 
Canal were with Governor Seymour subjects of 
intense interest. I may only glance at two or 
three of them. The chief was his constant inter- 
est in the water-ways of the State and country. 
Here he saw protection to the people from the 
increasing power of railroad corporations. He 
believed in nature's rivers and harbors and water- 
sheds for commerce, and when necessary, in canal 
water-ways. All of these were as familiar to him 
as the sources of the river near his own home, and 
hence his little fear of dangerous encroachments 
by railroads. The two systems were rather friendly 
than hostile, the one to be used for heavy bur- 

41 



iTltf 3Kl(lrf,s,5i. 



dens, and the other for (juicker motion and lit^hter 
weight. 

It was geographical position, he argued, that 
long ago took these highways from the PVench 
and gave them, first to the British, and from the 
liritish to the United States. The Six Tribes in 
their wars and widespread possessions had used 
them long before. Hannibal and Napoleon won 
more, he said, from the same causes than from an\" 
other; and more than anything else, it was the 
topography of the .States that defeated the .South 
in the rebellion. 

In this .State his last public words Ave re for main- 
taining the great water-ways from the lakes to the 
Hudson, and no hundred men have said or done 
so much in their behalf. Born in the wilderness, 
a real lover of rural life, upon a great farm, when 
he was a bo\' his eyes resting in leisure and retire- 
ment u[)on one of the most beautiful and best cul- 
tivated valleys in the .State, and lielieving, also, in 
his enthusiasm, that this Mohawk \'alley had the 
best watershed in the land, as he saw it frt)m the 
veranda of his own home, he was wont to say 
that the history of the continent revolved around 
what he thus saw before him. His home and his 
farm were sources of constant pleasure, and he 
could talk of seed-time and harvest, of crops and 



®hf ^tlrttr,«.«. 



soil, of the dairy and grasses, of wheat and oats, 
fertilizers and experiments in the germination of 
fruits and trees, as one who had become familiar 
with the farm in the double advantage of expe- 
rience and extensive reading. 

He believed also in a complete sj'stem of edu- 
cation, and in his addresses at Cornell, Madison, 
Wells and other universities and colleges, before 
the people at large, he defended this American 
system, as I may call it, as a part, and the best 
part, of the general welfare and common defense 
of the nation. 

Our very great obligations as a State, he thought, 
were due to the Dutch for the support they gave 
to education in New Netherlands ; and if New 
^'ork had a better constitution at the full close of 
the Revolution, it was due to the fact of the 
schools in the colony. 

One or two brief sentences let me copy from 
one of his university addresses as typical of the 
whole man: "When I see zeal without knowledge, 
I do not wish to quench the one but to enlarge 
the other. I have been willing to aid, according 
to my means, every church which earnestly held 
to the truth of its doctrines, although they were 
in conflict with those of the church to which I am 
attached. ... I believe in men who believe 



fhr ^(UlrcSiS. 



in their doctrines, religious or political, ami who 
arc active and earnest in their support. I have 
St. |(ihn's abhorrence of those who are neither h<it 
nor cold. . . . Diffused power demands dif- 
fused education. The system which makes all 
men members of the i^-overning class demands 
higher education than the mere primar\- elements 
of learning. Power and knowledge given to the 
l)eople make the element of Republicanism." 

One evidence of Governor Seymour's power in 
tlemocratic conventions was at the time of a nomi- 
nation of a ludge of the Court of A|)peals. when 
the whole bod)' of delegates seemed to ilemand 
that fudge I )enio, whose term was about to e.\pire, 
should not be renominated. 

The ludge had delivered an opinion, considered 
at tile time adverse to his part)-, in the use of gov- 
ernmental commissions, as in the organization of 
the New York Metropolitan Police. (iovernor 
Skvmour dissented from Jndge Denio's opinion as 
strongly as any man in the convention, but in the 
midst of tlie storm against the Judge and his 
decision, he rose in his place and said : " I tlesire 
to renominate Hirani Denio for Judge ot the 
Court of Appeals, not because we approve his 
decision — indeed 1 am hostile to that system of 
commissions, and differ witii ludge Denio in his 



ehf ^^(Ulrf.sis. 



view of the law — but because we respect his 
office, have confidence in his motives, and are will- 
ing to accept any statute legitimately passed and 
approved by the courts. I desire to renominate 
him, because by doing so we will demonstrate the 
sincerity of the Democratic party in its professions 
of respect for an independent judiciary." These 
words were simply magical, and the storm raised 
at first at once passed away, leaving the moral at- 
mosphere clear and pure as truth could make it. 

His Charities and SY^[rATHIEs. 

There is not time to speak at any length on 
these and kindred subjects. But it is proper to 
say that Governor Seymour performed many times 
more work for the people as a private citizen than 
in his official service. He believed that happy and 
healthy minds were made by steady and healthy 
work. In intelligent culture he found constant 
pleasure, and the little world within him saw 
enough in the great world without to provide ob- 
jects of endless study and interest for all mankind. 

His sympathies for men of toil, for teachers of 
art, in skilful work and in the schools were bound- 
less. In schools and colleges, he said, instructors 
gave a thousand-fold more to others than they re- 
ceived themselves; but it was also true that men 



®hc gidtlrr.'Sjs. 



of l)usincss and lal)or arc profitable teachers of 
nic-n of It-arning. He found literally in his obser- 
vations and studies, "good in everything." He 
believed with Seneca that " the things we fear are 
often better than those we pray for." He often 
(juoted the very old-time lines of Sir Thomas 
AVyatt, where "flowers fresh and fair of hue" are 
seen in the midst of 

'■ VfiKinious tliorns tlicit are so sharp and keen * * * 
Since evt-ry woe is joined with sonic wealth." 

I wish there was time to quote, in his own 
words, one thought from his ]'\>urth of Jul)- Ad- 
dress to the Prisoners of Aulnnm in 1S79, where 
in trying to drown in Lethean waters certain acts 
of his own life which caused him regret, mistakes 
and sorrows, how by thought and purpose he 
turned all these into virtue and wisdom, just as 
the alchemist turns base metal into gold, making 
each error of the past the seeds of right until each 
seed blooms into fragrant llowers. The hearts of 
many of the ])risoners were touched as b)' a coal 
of lire from the altar of God. At least there was 
sorrow for the crimes of the past. The orator 
knew tliat in the worst human nature it is possible 
at times to make the heart of stone become a 
heart of llcsh. 



46 



Ehf 3nldrr;5si. 



l: 



As the first President of the National Prison 
Association, he spoke at the convention in Balti- 
more many years ago, and the wisdom of his 
policy, and of his humanit)- and sagacity, has been 
cmonstrateil wherever his system of prison gov- 
ernment has been tried. In the prisons, he ar- 
gued, that as a rule those who are sent there were 
men who run with the currents of society and out- 
run them. They are moved and directed, in a 
great degree, by the impulses around them ; their 
characters are formed by the civilization in which 
they move. They are, in many respects, the rep- 
resentative men of a country. It is a hard thing 
to draw an indictment against a criminal which is 
not, in some respects, an indictment of the com- 
munity in which he has lived. After listening to 
thousands of prayers for pardon, he added : I can 
hardly recall a case where I did not feel that I 
might have fallen as my fellow-man has done, if I 
had been subjected to the same demoralizing in- 
fluences and pressed by the same temptations." 
And again : " Prisons are moral hosjsitals, 
where moral diseases are not only cared for, but 
science learns the moral laws of life. The laws of 
moral and physical life are a thousand times more 
important to the multitudes of the world at large 



than the\' are to the few inmates who langfuish 

47 



®hc S^ddrcsiS!. 



within the gloomy walls of a hospital or of a 
prison." " He who masters the diagnosis of crime 
gains the key to the mysteries of our nature and 
to the secret sources of social demoralization." 
" True statesmanshij), like true religion, begins 
with visiting the prisoners and helping the poor." 

An Oi.D-sniooi, Statksman. 

In the man)' recent tleaths of eminent public 
men in civil life, a majority have belonged to what 
is known as the old school. 

(_"jo\'ern(jr Skvmoiir in his culture and manners, 
principles antl opinions, belonged to this class. 
He had seen old things pass away and man\- 
things become new. At the age of seventy-six the 
old-school men he had seen servt: and die were in 
number as man}' as the visible planets. He be- 
held toward the end of his own life the men of the 
new school come into power, New PLngland 
dwarfed in strength, and his own New York and 
the Middle States left in the rear of the grown 
and growing Western States. The centre of \>o\>- 
ulation had been changed in his time almost from 
Maryland to just beyond Cincinnati. 

He had seen the Constitution, framed ninety- 
nine years ago, amended, slavery abolished, and 
the country at large moving on toward si.\t\' mil- 
lion of people, and his own State nearing the six 



She ^(Irttcss. 



million which will Ije its population at the close of 
the year 1899. 

In the order of Providence it was time to die. 
But the old L;ood nature and good old humor were 
ver)- dear to Governor Skvmour. There are 
some things in the past which cannot be improved 
in the present by change alone. One of these is 
the spirit of the old Constitution, born in the trials 
of the war for independence, baptized in the blood 
of the men who made it or died for it, christened 
in tlie experience of the full churcli militant, tri- 
umphant now in th(- I'nion, and after foreign wars 
and ci\il wars seen to-day in thirty-eight .States, 
and four more knocking to come in from ten ter- 
ritories almost as large as the .States now in e.xist- 
ence. Governor .SKv^[()UK belie\-ed in all this 
advance, and often recalled in the harewell Ad- 
dress of the father of the nation, the great teach- 
er's words u[)on the powers of government, the 
spirit of encroachment, the love of power, the 
prontniess to abuse it, and the necessity of recipro- 
cal checks in the exercise and distribution of pol- 
itical authority. And he was wholly right in his 
frequent reference both to Washington as a na- 
tional example, and to the Constitution as the 
supreme law of the land, and the duty of the peo- 
ple to respect and obey it. 

4.9 



5^hf 3\i1(lrr5.s. 



GovKRNOR Seymour's War Rk( orh nv 1863. 

The only marked dissent from what I have said 
grew out of the records of 1863, when for three 
days in Jul)- the mob were masters of the city of 
New York. As brief as words will permit. I pro- 
pose to place this record before you. These riots 
mark the deep, ilark, damned sjtirit of the rebel- 
lion. \\'hat led to them, whether they could be 
avoicled or not, whether it was the number of men 
drafted from Democratic chstricts, or the time of 
the draft, or the methotl of its execution, I shall 
not here discuss. My purpose is to vindicate, and 
from personal records and from official records of 
tliose who were not the (iovernor's political friends 
(I believe he ha<.l no enemies apart from politics), 
his conduct during the civil war. Only those who 
were present in Xew \ ork City know what the 
July riots were. To me, at the time a journalist, 
a jM'oprietor and citizen, much of whose work was 
in the midst of the riots, in the lower part of the 
city, they are remembered and detested as th(* 
nightmare of my life. I recall as recently in the 
city of London, and in ]5elgium and elsewhere, a 
multitude ot people whom no man could nimiber, 
and very man\' of them bent on mischief. Neither 
the cit)', the State, nor the b'ederal Government 



She gnUlrc.ssi. 



were prepared for the bad temper and worse con- 
duct which the draft and its time and methods 
created. I felt and wrote, and still feel and say, 
that each man in this mob, or in any mob, is the 
embodiment of a kind of personal devil. The 
best aspect in which it can be presented is that the 
draft was untimel)-. Commencing" on Saturday, 
the first names were published on .Sunda)', when 
there was leisure to read and think and talk of the 
conscription. The con\ iction was strong, and 
upon investigation it turned out to be correct, that 
thousands more men were to be drafted on call 
from Xew York than from New^ England and 
other .States in proportion to citizens or popula- 
tion. This was the spark, in part, which fired the 
kindling of the fiame which literall)- set the city on 
fire. What gave it even a form of excuse was the 
fact that this first draft was in the district where 
the e.xcess of numbers called for was unjustifiable. 
If partisanship originated this wrong upon the one 
side, party men naturally resented it upon the 
other. A portion of the press added fuel to the 
fiames, as we all know it can when it chooses, and 
from the gall in the heart put fire on the tongue. 
On Sunday, then, a day of anything but rest and 
peace, came news to the Governor of the draft in 
force, and to the Mayor also only the day before, 



ithc Suhlrcssi. 



ami to each without notice. A private telegram 
of public danger hurried the Governor to the city. 
Monday a mob of thousands were in the streets, 
mad with drink and passion. .Already they had 
sacked the provost-marshal's office, burned the 
block of buildings there and elsewhere, and fired 
the Colored Orphan Home. Neither life nor 
property was safe, and the Governor, in the midst 
of this smoke and flame and ruling passion, soon 
declared the city in insurrection. The Governor 
first heard of the danger by a pri\-ate telegram on 
Sunda)-, when there was no conveyance to the 
city, and where he was in counsel for the safety of 
the harbor. Monday he came, went to the St. 
Nicholas Hotel to meet General Wool, Mayor 
Opdyke, the Collector of the Port and others. 
Alarm bells were ringing; incendiaries were burn- 
ing public and private propert\- ; plunderers were 
stealing, and the mob, defying all in authority, 
were masters of the metropolis. The hospitable 
landlord, alarmed for the safety of his hotel, " for 
God's sake" imploretl the Governor and Mayor to 
leave. They left at once and went to the Cit)' 
Hall to look the mob in the face. 

Here timely words ami action made the begin- 
ning of the end. The first step, leading to su- 
jireme authority was the enormous crowd in front 



Ehc ^iUlrr.s.s. 



of City Hall, composed of all classes of excited 
})eople, and some of them among its best citizens. 
I- or the public safety the Governor's presence was 
ilemanded. Amonof his words were these : " 1 
Ijcg you to listen to me as a friend, for I am )our 
friend and the friend of your families." The ex- 
cited people one and all now quietly listened. 
Tlie a\o\ved and open purpose was to pour oil on 
the troubled waters by appealing to the common- 
sense of the people, mob and all. He first im- 
plored the multitude before him to disperse to 
their homes, and to trust to law and authority to 
redress any possible grievance. His chief and in- 
ward purpose by this appeal was to gain time for 
the State and municipal authorities to act as a unit 
and to save the city from further violence; and b)- 

this agenc)' alone, in forty-eight hours, and after 
about one thousand of the rioters and citizens had 
been killed or wounded, order was restored. 
There was no aid from the general government, 
none whatever; but the police of the city of New 
York, acting upon the authority of the Governor, 
were literally a tower of strength in the riot; and 
it is due to the truth of history to make this state- 
ment, and to add to it, that every well-informed 
man in the cit)' now stood b)- the police, the 
Mayor of the city, and the Governor of the State. 

53 



a he ^^(Idrf.ssi. 



And it was for the words I have quoted, and for 
his coiuhict there and then, that Governor Sev- 
MoiM< was charged with holdiii:^' a parhjy with 
" bh:)od\' criminals and thiexes." 

I need not picture the coiuhtion of the city in 
an<l just before these July riots. In the absence 
of tlefenses and of State troops the real danger 
was appallin!^ ; Init Governor Seymour was 
neither timid nor slow to meet the crisis. He 
had comprehended the full danger, anti meant to 
master it. if he could. Richmoutl was not so near 
t(i him as at first it was to those who had been 
capturetl, or to those who, in their cries of " On 
to Richmond!" had rej^^-arded this advance as an 
easy summer-time march. McDowell, McClellan, 
Poi)e, liurnside. Hooker — all had tried it and 
fouml it necessar)- to [lause until Cirant and Sher- 
idan from the east, and Sherman trom the south, 
much later on, with thousantls more men, and 
much better pre[)ared, openetl the wa)' to the long- 
beleagured city, when the rebellion melted away 
like snow before the sun. 

In the great cit\' in the worst peril of 1S63, Gov- 
ernor .SKVMdfk could count among his supi)orters 
as a war Governor the Presidt-nt, his .Secretary of 
War, Mayor Opdyke, the Collector of the Port, 
and leading citizens without number not of his 



Ehc 3nl(lrr.s.s. 



own party. But the slow work, as it was called, 
and the least spark of independence, even if min- 
gled with the truest patriotism, made the press, in 
part, merciless in its censures and criticisms 

On July 4. 1S63, before the people, the (iov- 
ernor exhorted calm deliberation, and addressed 
his words to citizens of all parties. He did not 
then dwell upon the fact that this State was called 
upon to raise in all 467,047 troops of the 2,859,- 
[32 called for by the nation. On the contrary, he 
issued two proclamations, showing what was meant 
to be done, and what at once proved most timely 
and effective. I quote the letter of one and the 
spirit of both : 

" I do hereby declare the city and county of New York to be 
in a state of insurrection, and give notice to all persons that the 
means provided by the laws of this State for the maintenance 
(if law and order will be employed, to whatever degree may be 
necessary ; and that all persons who shall after this proclama- 
tion resist, or aid or assist in resisting any force ordered b\- 
the Governor to quell or suppress such insurrection, will render 
themselves liable to the penalty prescribed by law. 

HORATIO SEYMOUR." 

Obedience to all legal authority, whether the 
law and authority were agreeable or not, was the 
command of the chief magistrate of the State. 
General Wool, for public reasons, had been urged 
to declare martial law, and opposing this was re- 

ss 



(The l^iUUfSs. 



moved from command. (Governor Skymoik be- 
lievinl with him that martial law would be a yrave 
mistake, ami the War Department, after special 
investigation l)y three men. two of them of its own 
naming, reported that the accusations against tht: 
Governor were groundless. 

In further answer to all charges of inefficiency 
of purpose. I (juote just two sentences from the 
Albany Journal '■A this cit\ at the time of the riot. 

"(Governor .Skvmouk in so promptly declaring 
the cit\' in a state of insurrection, contrii)Uted 
largely to the suppression of the riot. It gave 
immediate legal efficiency to the military arm. and 
enabled the ci\il authorities to use that power 
with terrible effect. It showed, also, that it was 
("lovernor Skvmour's purpose to give no cjuarter 
to the ruffians who seized upon the occasion of a 
popular excitement to rob and murder. The mob 
has been overpowered, law ami order are triumph- 
ant, anil the riotously disposed everywhere have 
received a lesson which the\' will not soon forget." 

The number of men called for liy tlie draft, I 
ma)' now say, was one cause of the riot, antl it is 
proper to add that after a sharp corresjjondence 
the draft was suspended, and for two reasons: one 
of them was the admission that fraud had been 
imposed upon the cit\' of New \'<)rk and ujjon the 



®hc gKldresijs. 



city of Brooklyn, by an unequal and an unjust call 
for the numbers to be drafted. 

This excess, all in all, was about fourteen thou- 
sand men, and in the call of luly, 1S64, for 500,- 
000, the excess was admitted to be 9,648. Where 
in New England the district draft was for 2,167, 
the district draft on the same basis in New York 
was for 2,674 men. The Secretary of War, upon 
investigation, fully admitted this wrong, and for 
its exposure, and for State justice which in the 
end came from it, the .State was indebted to Gov- 
ernor Seymour. On April 16, I864, the Repub- 
lican .Assembly by resolution honorably and unan- 
imously, thanked " Governor .Seymour for his 
prompt and efficient efforts in procuring a correct 
enrolment of the State." Like unanimous votes 
of thanks came from the Board of .Supervisors of 
the city, politically equally divided ; from the re- 
ligious body of which .Archbishop Hughes was the 
head, and from citizens and capitalists, who had 
been saved the unjust ta.xation which should come 
from an over-draft of men at a time when .$700 
bounty was paid for each volunteer. Candor and 
justice often make slow pace in the world, but as 
we see here error of opinion and action were in 
the end overruled for good. 

You will also remember that before the war 



ehf "^tlilrcss. 



began, (Governor SKVNfoUR, ami one of jnur now 
distinouished I'nited States Senators, were 
sneered at as " Union savers," as if the four years' 
war, and all its sacrifices of life and property, Icad- 
ini'" to tinal peace, ilid not niran the sa\in^' of the 
Union, and was not chielly for that purpose. 
The. ("lovernor simply c()m[)rehentled what the 
South meant when the federal capital was aban- 
doned by senators, judges and representatives 
from the States south of the Potomac. Then and 
later on, and always, he resisted separation for all 
causes, and declared that all remedies for all polit- 
ical e\ils, real or alleged, were to be found in the 
existing Government. This faith iit a united 
( lovernment, I shall show, won the conlidence of 
President Lincoln, and the full endorsement of 
Secretary .Stanton. 

In his inaugural address in January, 1S63, the 
Ciovernor had said : " Under no circumstances can 
the division of the Union be conceded." And 
again h(^ said : " \\"<' will put forth every exertion 
of power lo jirevent it." And after strong words 
of policy, conciliation and fraternal reganl which 
must prexail in a common counlr\-, he adds : " We 
can never voluntarily consent to the breaking up 
of the Union of these States or the destruction of 
the Constitution." 

58 



©Uc ^darfss. 



In his annual message he said: "In order to 
uphold our Government it is also necessary that 
we shoukl show respect to the authority of our 
rulers ; where it is their tluty to decide upon 
measures and policy, it is our duty to give a reach- 
support to their decisions. This is a vital maxiiu 
of liberty. W'ithout this loyalty no government 
can coniluct public affairs with success, no people 
can be safe in the enjoyment of their rights." 

He disapproved of arbitrary arrests, the pas- 
sions and prejudices of inferior agents, the sup- 
pression of journals, and imprisonment of persons 
for partisan reasons, the abduction of citizens of 
this State, and especially at a time when the State 
was " sending forth great armies to protect the 
national capital and to save the national officials 
from Ibght or capture." His own strong words 
were : " I deny that this rebellion can suspend a 
sin'de rieht of citizens of loval States. I de- 
nounce the doctrine that civil war in the .South 
takes away from the loyal North the benefits of 
one principle of civil liberty." And these burning- 
words, the strongest ever used by Governor Sev- 
MOUR, within one )-ear were in general accord with 
the best sentiment of the people of the .State ami 
country, and tin-ie soon proved that the)- were the 
safest for the republic in war as in peace. Thej- 

59 



ST'hc I^rtrtrcss. 



rest simply upon our coinmnn-sense nature and 
common-sense patriotism. 

When in the summer of 1S63 the Secretary of 
War called upon Governor Skymoir for help, his 
answers were as prompt as the calls for aid. 
General Lee was in Pennsylvania, and \\ ashiuL;- 
ton, llarrisburgh, and Philadelphia were in jjeril. 
The Governor of Pennsylvania joined in the call 
of the Government upon this .State- for promjit 
and needed help. 

June 15, iSb3, came this dt-spatch from the 

.Secretary of \\'ar : 

"Will voii please infunn me immediately if, in answer to a 
special call nf the Presiilent, you can raise, and forward, say 
twentv tlnuis.uid niililia. as volunteers, without, hounty, to lie 
credited on the draft of vour State; or what nuinher you c^wi 
possibly raise .^ E. M. STAMTOX, Sr.rc/.ny ,;/ W.irr 

On the same da)', Jum- 15th, cauK; this answer: 

■■ I will spare n(j efforts to send yini troops at once. 

"HORATIO SEYMOUR." 

At a later hour the same day this despatch was 
sent to the Secretary of War : 

"I will order the Ni-w York and Brooklyn troops to Phila- 
delphia at once. Where can they get arms. i( any are needed .' 

■' tlORATIO SEYMOUR." 

The same day, again, this despatch was sent to 
Mr. Stanton : 



(?Uf Address. 



"We have two thousand enlisted \olanteers. I will have 
them consolidated into companies and regiments, and sent on at 
once. Vou must provide them with arms. 

■HORATIO SEYMOUR.' 

The arms were supplied, the troops sent, and 
every hour, day and night, were busy hours at this 
capital for the prosecution of the war. 

July 2d. Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, 
wrote to ( jovernor Seymour : 

" Send forth more troops as rapidly as possible. Ever\' houi 
increases the necessity for large forces to protect Pennsylvania. 
The battles of yesterday were not decisive, and if Meade shoukl 
be defeated, unless we have a large army this State will be 
overrun by the rebels. 

"A. P. CURTIN, CiOTertior of Pennsylvania." 

Two weeks earlier. President Lincoln and his 
Secretary of War thanked Governor Seymour, 
and through him the State of New York, for in 
this war the State and the Governor were a unit. 
These are their words : 

"Washington, June 19, 1863. 
"The President directs me to return his thanks to his Excel- 
lency Governor Seymour and his staff for their energetic and 
prompt action. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War." 

Then came the request, the 21st of June, signed 
by the Secretary of War : 

" The President desires Governor Seymour to forward to 
Baltimore all the militia that he can raise." 

61 



She ^Kldrcssi. 



To t_"iOvernor Curtin s appeal came these hope- 
ful and emphatic words, June 18, 1803, from Gov- 
ernor Seymour : 

"About twelve thnusa?i(l men arc imw movina;, and are under 
orders for Harrisburg, in good spirits, and well equipped." 

And on July 2d ; 
"TriKjps will continue to be sent. One regiment left to-day." 

The city \vas now wholly defenceless. The 
nine fortifications in t!ie harbor were [iractically 
without tro(,)ps. and General AX'dol reporting- this 
fact to the President and to the Governor, the 
latter, with .Senator Morgan and Coniptrollcr 
Rohinson. looked u[)on the danger with bated 
Ijrcath. In all the nine fortifications onl\- five 
hundred miMi were [iresent, and but half ot them 
of the artillerw The Giovernment ships were all 
at Hampton Roads. It was in this crisis, July 
()th, that General Wool called upon Governor 
8F,v.\rouR for material aid for the United States, 
anil said lo him in an official paper: 

"For want of troojis the city is in :i defenceless condition. 1 
ncpiire, imluding a regiment .if lira\y artillery, eight compan- 
ies, composed of artillery, volunteers or militia, to be placed in 
tlie forts of this harbor. As I have no companies in tlie State 
of New York for this service, I would respecthilly ask your 
Excellency to order four coni|i.niies to be furnished as soon as 
practicable. JOHN ^YOOL, Major-Ceiierat:' 

62 



(Cite ^drtrr.ss. 



l'>ut the correspondence thus far cjuoted is not 
first in importance. On March 23, 1863, Presi- 
dent Lincoln wrote the following manly letter to 
Governor Seymour, marked "private and confi- 
dential : " 

"You and I are substantially strangers, and I write chieflv 
tiiat we may become better acquainted. I, for the time being, 
am at the head ol a nation which is in great peril, and you are 
at the head of the greatest State in that nation. As to main- 
taining the nation's life and integrity, I assume and believe 
there cannot be any diflterence of purpose between vou and me. 
If we should differ as to the means, it is important that such dif- 
ference should be as small as possible; that it should not be 
enhanced by unjust suspicions on the one side or the other. In 
the performance of my duty the co-operation of your State, as 
that of others, is needed, in fact it is indispensable. This alone 
is a sufficient reason why I shimld wish to be at a good under- 
standing with you. Please write, etc. 

A. LINCOLN." 

If you will recall the date of this letter, you will 
see that it was in the midst of the nation's greatest 
strife, and just then every day increasing. Gov- 
ernor Seymour received this invitation to write 
while the Legislature was in session — and he 
promised a full answer upon the "aspect of public 
affairs and the condition of our imhappy countr\" 
"as soon as he could be relieved from a pressure 
which confined him to the Executive Chamber 
until eacli midnitrht." His closing words, follow- 



(tlif 3Vthkr5?;. 



ino- an apology for delay in rephing- at once to 
the President, read as follows : 

''lassuii- you that mi jioliliial resnil nn-nt. iiu |-ii-rsiiiKil pur- 
poses, will turn me aside fnun tlie p.illiwav I liaxe maikeil nul. 
I intend to show those charijcd with the .idniinistratiou of puli- 
lio allairs a due deference and respect, and to t;i\'e to them a just 
and jrenerous support in all the nu.'.isures tliev may adopt within 
the scojie of their constitutional |)owers. For the preservation 
of this T'nion I am leady to niaUe anv sacritice of interest, ])as- 
sion, or prejudice, 'i'ruly yuirs, HORATIO Sf;VM01'R." 

What followed in the luindred ami more ela\s 
of emerg-enc}' in the siii)j)ly of men and arms to 
end the rel)ellion, in proclamations to crush the 
insurrection, in words to calm the public, to suji- 
port the ("lovernment as a unit, you have seen 
from the othcial records. Ikit the end is not yet 
seen. 

The lollowino- letter from .Secretary .Stanton to 
C'lovernor .Si;\>niru makes its own comment : 

"(CilNFinENTI.AL,) 

"War nF.p.\RTMENT Washington, Jnn,' 27, 1863. 

'"DkarSir; I cannot forebear expressing to you the deep 
<)l)lis;ati(jn I feel for the prompt and cordial support you ha\-e 
j;i\-en to the (ioxernmeni in the present emerjjencv. The 
energy, acti\ity and patriotism you ha\-e e.\hii)ited 1 may be 
])i'rniitted personally and ulficially to acknowledge, without ar- 
rog.iting any personal claim on mv part in such service, or to 
any service whatever. 

" 1 shall be luqipy to be always esteemed \cinr friend, 

" EDWIN STANTOX." 



®he ^rtikeiss;. 



A more public letter than this, dated May 24, 
1864, begged Governor Seymour "to come to 
W'ashintjton immediatelv on matters of ereat 
public interest." 

OnI\' one record more of the President's posi- 
tion in this year of peril, and I shall close. Ex- 
Senator Simon Cameron, classed as one of the 
President's best friends, has charged that there 
was a secret purpose, late in 1862 or early in 1863, 
using his own published words, " to bring about 
the ejectment of President Lincoln from the White 
House." W^ithout the knowledge of the purpose 
of those who invited him to visit Washington, he 
went there, as he says, " to meet a number of 
prominent men, whose real object was to find 
means by which the President covdd be impeached 
and turned out of office." Governor .Si-;v^rouK 
believed in this conspiracy, and lielieved also that 
the President was aware of its existence. Mr. 
Cameron spoke very plainly of it when, in 1878, 
he said : " The reasons and the plan of attack 
were all made known to me, and I declared to 
those who reported it that it was but little short 
of madness to interfere with the administration." 
Happily for the President and the country this 
conspiracy never ripened into the crime of trea- 

es 



ffhr ^ililrrsis. 



son, for just then ;inel there it was nothing less. 
And in closing the record of this war — a war 
of the national brotherhood of States and people 
in one great nation ; a war without precedent in 
waste; of life and property ; a war of more than a 
hundred ijattles fought, lost, or won ; a war that 
upon the side of the Union cost one million of 
people in all, and five thousand millions of dollars 
in money ; in its results with slavery ended and 
peace restored in a stronger bond of union than 
ever before — let me say what I believe, and what 
I hope you will admit upon the evidence pre- 
sented, that in its long and blood)- history, no 
man in the nation was found of truer devotion to 
the principles of constitutional government, to a 
nobler love of State or country, or manhood, than 
Horatio Skvmour. 

I present his name to the Legislature and 
people as in all respects worthy of their remem- 
brance in these State honors ; as an example to 
the rising generation, and as one who illustrated 
in his public career the text of John Milton, when 
lie called that a complete and generous education 
which tits a man to " perform justly, skilfully, and 
magnanimousl)- all the offices both public and 
private of peace and war." 



LofC. 



©he ^(liltrisis. 



If in his political life, like Solon, the man we 
now honor declared what a true Democracy was, 
like Publicola, he also remembered what it meant 
in the practice of a well-spent life, and in the 
government of a great republic. 



67 



2!;cni.5latiir i'vocrfiUnoi.s. 



(LonGdrrent ResolotiGtis of \\{e Senate and Assembly. 



Mr. Pitts offered the followins^ : 

R,-so/veii (\i the Assembly cunciir). That tlie thanks of the Leg- 
islature be and hereby are tcnrlereii to the Honorable Erastus 
Brooks, for the able, elocjuent and instructive address delivered 
by him on the life and character mI the Lite Horatio Seymour, 
at the memorial exercises held in the Assembly Chamber on 
Wednesday evening, April 14th. 

A'rs.^h',;/. That the Clerk of the Senate be and he licreby is in- 
structed to cause a copy of the foregoing resolution to be prop- 
erly engrossed and forwarded to the Honorable Erastus 

BUOiiKS. 

STATE OK NEW YORK: STATE OF NEW YORK: 

In Senate, I In .Asskmdly, I 

.-J/;v7 15, 1886. f .-J/r,7 15, i386. ( 

The foregoing resolution was iluly The foregoing resolution was duly 

passed, passed. 

liv order of the Senate Hy ord'-r ol the Assembly. 

JOHN W. VROOMAN, CH.VS A. CHICKERINO, 

aeyi. cV.-./l-. 

Mr. Ekwix offered, for tlic consitk-rdtion of the 
House, a resolution in the words following : 

/\,s,>/7',;f {\{ the Senate concur), That there be printed in b<iok 
form, bound in cloth, under the direction of the Clerks of the 
Senate and Assembly, 3,000 copies of the proceedings of the 
Legislature, and the memorial oration of the Hon. Erastu.s 
Brooks on the death of the Hon. Horatio Seymour, for the use 
of the members of the Legislature, 500 copies for the family of 
Horatio Seymour, i,ooocopies forthe use of the Hon. Erastus 
Brooks, and 500 copies for the ollicers and reporters of the 
Legislature. 

STATE OF NEW YORK: STATE OF NEW YORK: 

In .Assembi-V. ( In Sen.ate, I 

.-)//•// 22. 18S6. ( .I/'''' 23. 1SS6. f 

The foregoing resolution was duly The foregoing resolution was duly 

passed. passed. 

Bv order of the Assembly. By order of the Senate. 

CHAS. A. rillCKERING, JOHN W. VROOMAN, 

CU-r/t. Clerk. 



